White House says Trump wants diplomacy with Iran as US reportedly could be ready for military attack – as it happened

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day, but we will be back at it on Thursday. Thanks for reading. Here are the latest developments:

• As Donald Trump reportedly weights an attack on Iran, the United States military told the president it could be ready to begin strikes as soon as Saturday, CBS News reports.

• NYU Langone Health, one of New York City’s major hospital networks, announced this week that it will shut down its gender‑affirming care program for minors, as the Trump administration escalates threats to strip federal funding from providers that treat trans youth.

• The White House called it “deeply unfortunate that Pope Leo XIV decided not join the Board of Peace, a potential rival to the United Nations initially empowered to rebuild Gaza under Trump’s direction, according to a very vague mandate.

• Two weeks after he asked an aide to post a racist video clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes on social media, Trump welcomed Black supporters to a Black History Month event at the White House; Senator Tim Scott, who called the video, “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”, was not present.

• Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to spur the domestic production of the weedkiller glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup which his health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has argued on court causes cancer.

California is familiar terrain for Bernie Sanders, who won California on Super Tuesday during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Sanders has long called for higher taxes on the “billionaire class” and suggested the California proposal should be a model for the nation.

Speaking before the Vermont Senator on Wednesday evening, Suzanne Jimenez, the chief of staff at SEIU-UHW, said the proposal was simply an effort to “make billionaires pay their fair share”.

“We’re here tonight because millions of Californians are about to lose their health care, with massive federal funding cuts,” Jimenez said.

“If we don’t act, our friends and our family will have to drive twice as far – will have to wait twice as long – for the life-saving care that they’re going to need,” she continued. “And for what? So that billionaires can own another yacht?”

Opponents have argued that the tax would stifle innovation, pushing entrepreneurs and investors to flee to lower-tax states and potentially cost jobs.

Even in deep-blue California, the politics are complicated. The effort is already facing deep-pocketed opposition from business leaders and tech titans, who have poured money into efforts to defeat the tax. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other billionaires are bankrolling a new political group that is backing a series of competing ballot initiatives that would nullify the union-backed proposal. Brin, one of the world’s wealthiest people, is among the recent Silicon Valley magnates to cut ties with the state where he made his fortune.

Backers will also have to overcome opposition from the out-going Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who has warned that the proposed tax would erode the state’s long-term tax base, eventually forcing cuts to public schools and other services. At a Bloomberg News event in San Francisco last month, Newsom said he was “burdened by the facts” and argued that a billionaire tax would put California at a competitive disadvantage against other states. “You would have a windfall one time and then over the years you would see a significant reduction in taxes because taxpayers will move,” he said.

Bernie Sanders is set to appear in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening to rally support for a proposed wealth tax that has split California Democrats and rattled the state’s uber-rich – some of whom have already fled the Golden state – or are threatening to do so.

Under the proposal, led by the Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), California residents worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-time 5% tax on their assets to offset looming federal cuts to health care and support public education and state food assistance programs.

“Never before have so few Oligarchs held so much power over our economy, political life and media,” Sanders wrote in an X post on Sunday, announcing his plans to rally support for the measure in Los Angeles. “Now they’re investing trillions in AI and robotics which could devastate the working class.”

Outside the event, held at the Wiltern Theater in downtown Los Angeles, organizers collected signatures to put the California Billionaire Tax Act on the ballot in November. The union must gather nearly 875,000 valid signatures to qualify. If they are successful, it would still need to win approval from a majority of California voters.

Inside, attendees posed in front of signs that read “Billionaire Tax Now”. “Tax the billionaires,” the crowd chanted.

Morgan, a 29-year-old progressive who declined to give her last name, said she attended her first Sanders rally a decade ago, and has remained a supporter since. She hopes his influence will help overcome the billionaire-backed opposition to the wealth tax. “They’re money can do a lot more and go a lot further than ours,” she said.

Donald Trump quietly signed an executive order on Wednesday invoking the Defense Production Act to spur the domestic production of phosphorus and the weedkiller glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup, calling the chemicals essential to US defense and food security.

Glyphosate-based herbicides, the order says “play a critical role in maintaining America’s agricultural advantage by enabling farmers to efficiently and cost-effectively produce food and livestock feed.”

The order comes one day after the agrochemical maker Bayer and lawyers for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25bn settlement to resolve thousands of US lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that Roundup could cause cancer.

Bayer has argued that the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state courts.

But the order could pit the president against a part of his base, the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA movement led by his health secretary, the former environmental lawyer Robert F Kennedy Jr.

In 2018, Kennedy was part of the legal team that convinced a San Francisco jury to award a school groundskeeper dying of cancer $283 million in damages by arguing Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The makers of the glyphosate-based herbicide pointed to studies that showed no link to cancer.

“Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in America, contains glyphosate. Glyphosate exposure has been linked to all kinds of diseases, including Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Kennedy posted in 2023, after railing against the chemical to Joe Rogan. “95% of our corn, and much of our wheat, is routinely sprayed with Roundup. This is something every American should be concerned about.”

“I was called a conspiracy theorist because I said that glyphosate, which is the active ingredient of Roundup, causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; people said that’s a conspiracy theory,” Kennedy told Chris Cuomo in 2024 before he abandoned his bid for the presidency. “As it turned out, we won three jury trials, in which they agreed with us and Monsanto settled for $13 billion.” Monsanto was later bought by Bayer.

Kennedy’s followers who moved to support Trump could be alienated by the president’s decision to increase glyphosate production.

“Just as the large MAHA base begins to consider what to do at midterms, the President issues an EO to expand domestic glyphosate production. The very same carcinogenic pesticide that MAHA cares about most,” Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA influencer who goes by The Glyphosate Girl on social media, posted in response to the order.

Less than two weeks after he asked an aide to post a racist video clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes in the jungle on his social media platform, Donald Trump celebrated Black History Month at the White House on Wednesday by reeling off the names of Black supporters gathered in the East Room for his remarks.

But as Trump pointed to a number of prominent Black Republicans who were in the room, and invited Ben Carson, the former housing secretary, and Scott Turner, the current housing secretary, to join him on stage, it became clear that someone was missing. Senator Tim Scott, who had called on Trump to remove the video of the Obamas, calling it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”, was not present.

While the White House told the Guardian that Scott “was invited but couldn’t make it,” the senator’s office did not respond to multiple requests to explain his absence. Later, Scott posted a brief video clip on social media of Trump mentioning his name during the event, when he credited the absent senator with the initiative to create “opportunity zones”, by offering a federal tax incentive to support private investment in economically-distressed communities.

Scott’s absence comes days after CNN reported that Trump had spent the weekend after he was forced to delete the racist video railing against Scott, the only Black Republican senator and chair of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, for calling his White House racist.

Trump’s brief mention of Scott, and the senator’s absence, was in marked contrast to the same event last year, when the senator stood at the front of the crowd, was singled out for praise by the president and even bantered with Trump as the president suggested he might soon award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The only glancing reference Trump made to the uproar over the racist video came in his comments on a litany of Black boxers he said he admired.

“Mike Tyson, boy, I tell you, Mike has been loyal to me,” Trump said. “Whenever they come out, they say ‘Trump’s a racist!’ You know, it’s like a statement, ‘Trump’s a racist!’ Mike Tyson goes, ‘He’s not a racist, he’s my friend.’ He’s been there from the beginning, good times and bad.”

“Mike Tyson is a great guy,” the president said, “and he was so loyal, always been loyal.”

The US justice department moved to intervene on Wednesday in a federal lawsuit brought by a conservative group against the Los Angeles school district which claims that a decades-old effort to end school segregation in Los Angeles discriminates against white students.

In a motion, the civil rights division of the justice department says that it supports the conservative 1776 Project Foundation’s objections to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s designation of some schools as Predominately Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other (PHBAO).

“This program categorizes students by race and by the race of their neighbors in order to determine school funding and magnet school admissions,” the justice department said in a press release.

In a second court filing, the justice department accused the LA school district of “operating a system of racial spoils” through its effort to counteract the harms of segregation in previous decades,

Since student at those schools, which are more than 70% non-white, are offered smaller class sizes and two parent-teacher conferences a year, the 1776 Project Foundation argues that schools with more white students suffer “inferior treatment and calculated disadvantages,” according to the group’s lawsuit.

The 1776 Project Foundation was founded by Ryan James Girdusky, a conservative commentator who was banned from CNN in 2024 for making a racist joke about the British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan, who is Muslim.

“Los Angeles County students should never be classified or treated differently because of their race. Yet this school district is doing exactly that by providing benefits that treat students — based on their race — as though they have learning disabilities,” the assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, said in a statement.

“Los Angeles classifies school districts and the areas within them as “Anglo” or “non-Anglo, and depending on that classification, it can really affect the kind of funding and education that you’re entitled to,” Dhillon said in a social media video. “This is clearly illegal.”

As Donald Trump reportedly weights an attack on Iran, the United States military told the president it could be ready to begin strikes as soon as Saturday, CBS News reports, citing unnamed sources.

Reuters, citing an unnamed senior US official, offered a slightly different timeline, reporting that top US national security advisers were told during a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday that all US military forces deployed to the region should be in place by mid-March.

Iran is expected to submit a written proposal on how to resolve its standoff with the United States in the wake of U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva on Tuesday, the official told Reuters.

According to the Israeli reporter Barak Ravid, Trump also met on Wednesday with the two advisers leading indirect talks with Iran, Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer turned envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group and its flotilla of warships is already in the region, CBS News noted, and a second carrier group, the USS Gerald Ford, is en route to the Middle East.

As of Wednesday, the Ford was off the coast of West Africa, according to maritime vessel tracking data, and open-source researchers.

On Israeli television, Ravid reported that US sources told him the talks in Geneva with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, were a “nothing burger” and the Pentagon is preparing for a joint Israeli-US offensive that could last weeks. According to Ravid’s sources, Iran only has until the end of February to offer concessions on its nuclear program.

NYU Langone Health, one of New York City’s major hospital networks, announced this week that it will shut down its gender‑affirming care program for minors, as the Trump administration escalates threats to strip federal funding from providers that treat trans youth.

In a statement to the Guardian, spokesperson Steve Ritea said that “given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program.” He added that the hospital’s pediatric mental health services will continue.

The move comes after months of sustained pressure from the administration, including an executive order signed shortly after Trump returned to office declaring that the federal government will not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so‑called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another”.

NYU Langone reportedly began cancelling appointments for minors soon after the order was issued. New York attorney general Letitia James directed the hospital to resume care, warning that the network risked violating state anti‑discrimination laws. A federal judge later issued a temporary restraining order blocking the administration’s directive from taking effect.

In December, however, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing “sex‑rejecting procedures for children under 18”.

Gender‑affirming care is endorsed by major US and international medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. Treatments such as puberty blockers are reversible, and surgery for minors is rare. Providers emphasize that care plans follow extensive evaluations and involve families throughout.

Local officials and advocacy groups condemned NYU Langone’s decision, arguing the hospital is capitulating to threats to cut federal funds. Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman‑Sigal said the closure would “jeopardize the lives and well‑being of their patients”.

“Studies have shown that ending gender‑affirming care after it has begun without patient consent can carry significant physical and mental health risks,” he said. “For these young patients, gender‑affirming care is life‑affirming care.” A rally in support of trans youth is planned for Wednesday evening outside the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan.

STAT news reported earlier this month that 40 hospitals across the country have paused or ceased to offer some type of gender-affirming care to young people since Trump returned to office. The White House has not yet responded to the Guardian’s request for comment.

The attorneys general of California, Colorado and Washington filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday on behalf of a coalition of 13 states, seeking to force the federal government to pay billions of dollars in grants approved by Congress for clean energy projects.

The Trump administration terminated some funding already allocated under environmentally focused laws, including the Inflation Reduction Act, that passed during the presidency of Joe Biden to support wind, solar and other fossil-free power sources.

Donald Trump, long known for his irrational hatred of wind power, has instead focused on fossil fuel production.

“The President claims to seek ‘American Energy Dominance’ but, in California, his unlawful termination of over $1.2 billion in total funding for crucial clean energy projects means over 200,000 union job cuts, rising energy prices, and higher rates of pollution that wreak havoc on our health,” California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said in a statement. “The President is cherry-picking this funding at the expense of hardworking Americans and stifling innovation and the economy for the sake of partisan retribution. My office will continue to hold the President and his administration accountable for breaking the law.”

“We will not allow Trump to sell out our future to his biggest donors,” California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, added. “Trump didn’t just tear up a contract: he defied Congress, jeopardized more than 200,000 good-paying jobs, and robbed billions of dollars in health savings from communities that have been hit the hardest by pollution. We’re not letting that stand. California will fight for these jobs, this infrastructure, and the global clean energy competitiveness that the Trump administration has ceded to China.”

The lawsuit alleges that the termination of billions of dolalrs in federal funding for Arches (Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems) and millions under the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (RECI) program violates the constitutional separation of powers, since the funding was approved and appropriated by bipartisan majorities in Congress before Trump took office.

In his rambling speech today, Donald Trump repeated the longstanding lie that Joe Biden didn’t actually win the 2020 election. “We had a man that was not a president,” Trump said at a reception celebrating Black History Month at the White House.

Even though it’s an official event, it’s resembling a campaign-style stump speech. Trump has listed – what he sees as – the crowning achievements of his second term in office, and inspired the crowd to heckle the reporters in the room.

At a reception today honoring Black History Month, Donald Trump kicked off the event by remembering the late civil rights trailblazer Jesse Jackson, calling him a “force of nature”.

“He really was special, with lots of personality, grit and street smarts,” Trump said. “He was gregarious and someone who truly loved people.”

The president noted that Dr Ben Carson – who served as the housing and urban development secretary during Trump’s first term – will be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. This will be Carson’s second, as he was first awarded with the honor in 2008.

Earlier today, the Vatican announced that Pope Leo XIV would not join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace – focused on the reconstruction of Gaza. Ahead of the board’s first meeting in Washington DC on Thursday, the Vactican’s secretary of state said that at the international level it should “above all be the United Nations should that manages these crisis situations”.

White House press secretary said the snub was “deeply unfortunate” while addressing reporters today.

“I don’t think that peace should be partisan or political or controversial,” she added. “The administration wants all those who were invited to join the Board of Peace to join because, again, the board of peace is overseeing the reconstruction of a territory that has been plagued with violence, with bloodshed, poverty, for far too long.”

Leavitt went on to underscore that the board is a “legitimate” organization. This, despite major European allies declining to join the group, and the $5bn entry fee that Trump has touted for member states to join the board.

Karoline Leavitt said today that the next step to contain the sewage spill in the Potomac River is for the leaders of Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC to “step forward and to ask the federal government for help” so they can “take control of this local infrastructure that has been abandoned and neglected by Governor Moore in Maryland for far too long”.

Moore has rejected the White House’s criticism, saying Trump is “lying”, noting that the federal government is responsible for the sewage pipe as it sits on federal land. “If the president wants me to ask nicely, my response is this: ‘Please Mr President, do your job,’” Moore said on Wednesday.

When asked about the governor’s comments today, Leavitt simply replied:

The federal government has been preparing plans. The White House has been in contact with Fema, with the Army Corps of Engineers, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Again, we’ve been standing by this is a problem we want to fix, not just for the federal government, but for everyone who lives in District of Columbia, including all of you.

When asked about the possibility of US strikes against Iran, Leavitt said that the Trump administration “totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities” and has been clear that “diplomacy” is always the president’s “first option”.

“Iran would be very wise to make a deal with president Trump,” Leavitt added today.

She also noted that while there was a “little bit of progress” following Tuesday’s talks in Geneva between the US and Iran, “we’re still very far apart on some issues”.

Leavitt did not answer a question about an exact deadline that Donald Trump would give Iran to achieve a deal, before engaging in military action.

Karoline Leavitt defended the ongoing development of an immigration detention facility in her home state of New Hampshire today.

“Obviously, there are a lot more illegal alien criminals left in our homeland. That includes in New England, there are many within our communities, in New Hampshire, in Maine and definitely in Massachusetts and in the Boston suburbs that need to be arrested, detained and deported back to their home countries,” Leavitt said.

The possible construction in Merrimack, New Hampshire, has caused controversy in the state, with the Republican governor Kelly Ayotte saying that she initially received limited information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about the facility – which many local organizers and lawmakers have opposed. Ayotte’s office published plans of the facility last week, after ICE acting director Todd Lyons claimed he had worked with the governor’s office – Ayotte denied that the agency had shared the requisite documents. The governor is now facing pressure to prevent the federal government to expand its detention footprint and signing off on the facility.